Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Merrick interviewed by German newspaper

Jim Merrick, head of marketing at Nintendo of Europe, has been interviewed by a German newspaper. Here are Merrick´s quotes translated with the interesting parts printed in bold:

"Nintendo is an entertainment company. We do not own movie studios. Neither are we hardware manufacturers. The ´Revolution´ may be able to play back movies on DVD - but that is not an important feature for us. We offer good interactive entertainment instead. That is not a question of hardware or power, though. All that is irrelevant. Only the games matter," says Merrick.

Microsoft may also be pursuing the strategy of widening the target audience, "but we see nothing of that - they still produce the same games, which are perfected only with a particular target group in mind. We prefer to take a step back in order to widen the target audience," says Merrick. "The average person today cannot relate to a videogame. (...) If you picture a videogamer nowadays, it is a pale juvenile who drinks Cola and eats crisps. That should not be so."

"The youngest gamers are four to five years old. We will not abandon our market share in this demographic. But we will try to score with the older target groups. In Japan, games which exercise your brain are very popular with people around 35 and older. Those are not the kind of people you would call videogamers," says Merrick.

"We are well aware that the game market is price-sensitive, especially when trying to reach a mass market. I very much hope the ´Revolution´ will cost less than the Xbox360´s 400 Euro," says Merrick. The new Microsoft console was only expensive because of, for instance, its support of high-definition television (HDTV). "But only few people can put that to use. We will not do that," says Merrick.

"Nintendo will also establish an online community. But we do not want to make the mistake of charging for such a service first, and only later make it worth the consumer´s while. With our portable console Nintendo DS, we will choose a different path. Our online service, starting with the game ´Mario Kart´ in November, will be free to gamers. (...) With the Nintendo ´Revolution´, however, not all online games will be free of charge for users."

"We are not worried because of the Xbox. The offering will be limited and the type of games will not be appealing to all target groups. There will always be a group of tech-fans who will instantly buy the new console generation. But the mass market will not move in on the device - at least not, until they see what Sony and Nintendo have on offer next year. If our strategy of reaching a wider demographic takes hold, we have a very good chance of becoming market leader by the end of 2007," Merrick hopes.

Bold statements, there. Unusually bold for a company that has always preferred to avoid the issue of leadership in the home console market.

Memory firm MoSys back on board to supply SRAM for Nintendo's next-gen platform

A solid indication of the timeline for the launch of Nintendo's next home console has emerged from memory firm MoSys Inc, which has revealed that it will supply memory for the system, with "mid-2006" touted as the launch date.

MoSys previously provided the 1T-SRAM memory technology used by NEC for the GameCube's memory, and speaking in a live conference call following the announcement of the firm's Q1 earnings, CEO and CFO Mark Voll said that it would again be fulfilling this role for Revolution.

"During the quarter we announced that NEC Electronics will now use our 1T-SRAM embedded memory technologies on their advanced 90nm process, and that the initial designs to be incorporated in SoCs will be used in Nintendo's next-generation game console, codenamed Revolution," he said.

The most interesting part came next, however, when Voll commented that: "We are excited to be a participating member of the Nintendo team once again as Nintendo will roll out its successor game console to the GameCube in mid-2006."

This is the first solid evidence that the Revolution platform is still on track for a mid-2006 launch. The console is expected to debut at a pre-E3 conference next Tuesday, but it's still not known just how much will be on display - with sources close to Nintendo suggesting that only a pre-recorded video of "next-gen footage" may be shown.

Hi pi. Thanks for the link. I myself was expecting around $450. And I don´t agree with you: $400 is not cheap at all. It is less than some expected for the PS2, but that is because Sony opted for expensive hardware and people thought the dire financial situation Sony is in might sway them from the path of losing money on each console sold. However, this is eactly what will happen now. I don´t see $400 as putting pressure on the other two. I see it as putting immense pressure on Sony. If they fail to sell a substantial amount of units, billions of investments will have been in vain and the former giant may fall apart completely.

oh wow niet gezien, t'is een behoorlijk lange post geworden he, :P I had seen the message when there was only one (maybe two) post but I thought it was more of a rumor than a fact (seeing it wasn't anything near official), and than gamespot.com confirmed it but you already have it I see. Anyway keep up the great work, you're doing a excellent job!

Hi pi. Thanks for the link. --Hi Falafelkid. It just rumor. But I hope it's not just rumor (for my wallet benefit).

I myself was expecting around $450. And I don´t agree with you: $400 is not cheap at all. It is less than some expected for the PS2, but that is because Sony opted for expensive hardware and people thought the dire financial situation Sony is in might sway them from the path of losing money on each console sold. --Yes but Sony losing money on both console ps1 and ps2. And sony have deep pocket money.

However, this is eactly what will happen now. I don´t see $400 as putting pressure on the other two. --x-box sale his x-box360 for 400$. if ps3 at 400$ and it isn't retard pack. And ps3 might have better spect than x-box360 (minus HDD) I think. If it is x-box360 must change price. and some one say that x-box360 ready to reduce price for 100$. now revolution might have to face price reduction war (as my wallet benefit ^ ^).

I see it as putting immense pressure on Sony. If they fail to sell a substantial amount of units, billions of investments will have been in vain and the former giant may fall apart completely.--But sony still have that deep pocket money and just layoff some of his worker.

My self predict ps3 price more than you at 500-700$. But ... word : our money breakthrough : form sony...

Ok. Let see why * if * ps3 set price at 400$ both may need to reduce price.

1. 400$ price is as same as x-box360. Sony make this word : mose power full. If you been see "shadow of the colossus demo" I sure that you see the different on the picture. and sony will show it no fake this time. now microsoft can't do the same thing they did at e3 to get people beleive that thier consol is just as powerful as teh ps3. and still old x-box have credit problem.

2. x-box360 retard pack not 400$ but 300$ ... If 400$ set reduce by 100$ so 300$ set have too reduce too. And * if 250$ * it may too near to 200$ revolution. x-box360 is include hd-tv movie player and all windows media center function. just 50$ more.

3. nintendo have credit problem on n64 and cube if revolution price as same as x-box360 maybe... (old x-box have less credit problem because old x-box have really shot life. (it's easy to forget.) and x-box360's game list look good)

I like revolution and will buy it anyway. But...

*If* ps3 set price at 400$And x-box360 (core system) reduce form 300$ (not remove this set or add bonus to this set)*Then* revolution might have to face price reduction war. (even under 200$. - -" This is cruel of console war... still 400$ ps3 is rumor , we don't really know that x-box360 will reduce price or not. and we don't know enough revolution's information too)

... Well, I feel that Mocoshaft is DUMPING the 360 to customers... much like they did with the first GBox...

By Dumping, I mean that they are selling it at an insanelly low price considering the amount that the thing actually costs to build... They will probably lose close to $150 on each machine sold...

Sony migth try to do the same like they have done before... I don't know how much they are willing to lose in exchange for market share... but it could be about the same amount of $$ MS will probably lose with the 360...

Dumping is ilegal, but I don't know how it would be to prove and how or what could be done against them...

The problem with domping is that whoever does it will make it close to imposible for some one to come up and introduse a new product to this or any industry in which you have a opresive company (tho a bit diferent, microsoft is one, their tactiks can be plain evil depending on their objectives... ask Sega!)...

On topic now... Hope Nintendo manages a good strategy with their Revolution and let their precence be felt at the reatail level... I want to see their products well advertice and at reacheble prices... along with worthy products and games... they need to make themselves present at every store that sells electronics and toys...